Ghostbusters is very fun and unique, and has the same charm as the movies.
Lets start with the sound quality, and that is where this game is at it's best. All of the original Ghostbusters return, with Annie Potts as the all serious receptionist and William Atherton as the egocentric Walter Peck, all reuniting to lend their voices to make this the 3rd movie that never was in video game form. Awesome! Everyone does a great job reprising their roles, and that's great because of the long break from new material. On top of that, the voice overs are greatly balanced, with dialogue that is appropriate for the characters and how it is delivered. It seems everyone is having fun reuniting, and it is clear they love what they are doing. All the sound effects are back and add to that fuzzy, nostalgic feeling; everything from the roars of Stay Puff, to the sirens of Ecto-1 blasting down the street, fans can't help but to have a grin our faces. Newcomers to the series will have no trouble hopping into the story, but some of the banter, which is very comical and just plain hilarious without even trying sometimes, will confuse you at parts. Still, overall, this is one of the most complete sound experiences I have heard in a while, and that is a great feeling.
The graphics, are honestly, great, for the most part. The CGI cutscenes are great, no doubt about that. The in-game graphics are great, and range from being colorful and bright, to having the darkest of settings, both in tone and atmosphere. The spotty sides are the use of in-game graphics for the non CGI cutscenes. The characters just look a bit stiff and move robotically on occasion, however, all of their facial animations are great. Now when the gameplay starts, then that changes. Animations are great, and facial expresions are again in full effect. That is a neat touch, because all the characters display fear, anger,or when cutting a joke, a laugh and a smile. Again, all of the chatter and what I just stated happens in game as you are walking, running, or trapping ghosts. As for the environments, they are nicely detailed, are littered with junk. Junk that can be mostly blasted to bits, burned, or scorched with your proton pack. Just like in the movies, before you go to clean house, the area usually looks nice and whatnot, and by the time you are done, it looks like a tornado just touched down. This game has some nice particle effects to it, like when your proton beam touches a wall, you can actually see the burn path, and it doesn't dissappear. The same goes for all the other destruction that your team creates. Cause a bunch of damage, and it shows, for the whole time you are in that area. Sweet.
Now onto the gameplay, which is where this title is in full effect. I'll go ahead and say it. You've never played a game like Ghostbusters. In all of todays games, usually coping one another, this title does it's own thing, and it works. You have 4 proton weapons, each with a secondary fire, which equals out to be 8 different weapons. All are completely upgradable, and adds a sense of progression to the levels. On top of that, you have different traps to use and more. The game works like this. Go into an area, scan, fight, trap/destroy depending on enemy, take up trap, look for hidden objects, rinse and repeat. However, the game is always throwing new enemies your way, and is constantly switching settings, all while the story is still going on around you, so boredom is rarely a factor. The only downside is, like everyone else has said, the difficulty can go from 1 to 11 without notice (sorry for the Spinal Tap pun). Anyway, this doesn' t happen often, but when it does, trial-and-error gameplay rears it's ugly head. Who said Ghostbustin' was easy? To add icing and a cherry to the cake, you have multiplayer. To further add to the value, it's actually great fun. You have a few different modes to play in to test your Ghostbusting skills with other people around the world, all while trying to be top-buster yourself.
Overall, Ghostbusters is a very good game, with a high budget, making this one of the very few movie-to-game releases that isn't horrible. With top notch acting in the sound department from the original cast, plus great gameplay to compliment it, this makes for a must play summer game for Ghostbusters fans and newcomers alike!